Ammonia and Nitrite

Using Chemicals to Remove or Neutralize Ammonia in a Fish Tank

(The First Tank Guide)

Ammonia is constantly produced by your fish and released into the
aquarium water as part of their natural biological processes. This is
normal and expected. Ammonia is also produced by the decay of excess
uneaten food in the tank, and other organic matter such as dead leaves
from aquarium plants.

Why Is Ammonia Building Up in My Aquarium Water?

Ammonia buildup is rather common in aquariums. This usually happens
in new aquariums that are still cycling and
do not yet have their biological
filter established. This will be a concern in your new aquarium
for at least the first 6-8 weeks.

In addition, any tank, bowl, or other container that you are using
to house your fish will have an ammonia buildup if it is not filtered.

Ammonia will also often build up when medications are used, as many medications
will kill (or at least severely stress) your biological filter.

Why Is This Ammonia a Problem?

If the fish are constantly producing ammonia, why is it even a
problem? Well, the fish are producing it as part of their waste. Think
for a moment, but not too hard, about having to live in a home with
your own waste. it's stressful, it's disgusting, and it can lead to a
number of health problems.

Why Not Just Use an Ammonia Remover or Ammonia Detoxifier?

Using a chemical to bind, take up,
neutralize, or block ammonia, is not only unnecessary and undesired,
but it is counterproductive and will be harmful to the stability of
your tank in the long run. Additionally,
using these chemicals can be misleading.

These chemicals will bind the ammonia into a form that is not going
to be bothersome to your fish, but also is unavailable to your biological filter. This means that
your biological filter will not
have the nutrients it needs to stay viable and it will
deteriorate. Then, when the chemical has absorbed all the ammonia it
can, the ammonia will begin to build up in the tank in a form that is
dangerous to your fish and will cause ammonia stress. Since your biological filter has been being
starved, it is unable to process this waste and your tank will begin
to cycle again.

Also, these chemicals often do not
bind the ammonia away in a manner that makes the ammonia undetectable
by standard ammonia tests, so it will still appear that your tank has
a high ammonia level if and when you test the water for ammonia. In
addition, some of these chemicals will even read as ammonia themselves
on some tests, so you may get a reading for a much higher ammonia
level than in is the tank. This can be very misleading and confusing,
and it is all because of the use of an unnecessary chemical
treatment.

Though ammonia removing chemicals can be helpful in the short term
for dealing with a crisis situation, their regular use should be
strongly discouraged.